Electronic Devices With Finger Sensors

ABSTRACT

An electronic device such as a head mounted device may have an inner display that displays an image for a user through lenses. Head-mounted support structures may be used to support the display and lenses. One or more external displays may be publically viewable while the head-mounted device is being worn. The head-mounted support structures may have a front face on which an external display is mounted. One or more finger sensors that are configured to detect touch input, force input, and/or other input from an external object such as a user&#39;s finger may be included in the head-mounted device. A finger sensor may have an elongated shape that runs along a peripheral edge of an external display on the front face. Finger sensors may also be located on other portions of the support structures.

This application claims the benefit of provisional patent applicationNo. 62/904,562, filed Sep. 23, 2019, which is hereby incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

This relates generally to electronic devices and, more particularly, toelectronic devices with input-output components.

Electronic devices sometimes include optical components. For example, awearable electronic device such as a head-mounted device may include adisplay for displaying an image. Input devices such as buttons may alsobe included.

Challenges can arise in providing output and gathering input in awearable electronic device such as a head-mounted device. If care is nottaken, input-output devices may be cumbersome to use and may not be ableto provide desired output.

SUMMARY

An electronic device such as a head mounted device may have an innerdisplay that displays an image for a user through lenses. Head-mountedsupport structures may be used to support the display and lenses. One ormore external displays on the head-mounted support structures may bepublically viewable while the head-mounted device is being worn.

The head-mounted support structures may have a front face. One or morefinger sensors that are configured to detect touch input, force input,and/or other input from an external object such as a user's finger maybe included in the head-mounted device. A finger sensor may have anelongated shape that runs along a peripheral edge of an external displaymounted on the front face. Finger sensors may also be located on otherportions of a head-mounted support structure.

A finger sensor may have a touch sensor configured to gather touch inputfrom a finger or other external object, a force sensor configured togather force input from a finger or other external object, a proximitysensor configured to detect fingers that are not touching the fingersensor, and/or other sensing circuitry. A haptic output device in theelectronic device may provide haptic feedback (e.g., when a usersupplies input to a finger sensor).

A display may overlap the finger sensor. For example, an elongatedfinger sensor may be overlapped by a corresponding elongated display orother display structure. Icons and other reconfigurable visual elementsmay be displayed on the elongated display (e.g., to implement areconfigurable function row for the wearable electronic device). In someconfigurations, visual elements such as icons can be moved between afirst display such as a rectangular main external display and a seconddisplay such as an elongated strip-shaped display that runs along aperipheral edge of the main display and that overlaps an elongatedstrip-shaped finger sensor.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top view of an illustrative electronic device such as ahead-mounted device in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a side view of an illustrative electronic device withinput-output components in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a front view of an illustrative electronic device with an areafor a front-facing display and an elongated sensor such as a peripheralfinger sensor strip in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is atop view of an illustrative electronic device such as a witha finger sensor in accordance with an embodiment.

FIGS. 5 and 6 are front views of illustrative electronic devices withdisplays in accordance with embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a front view of an illustrative head-mounted device with afinger sensor for adjusting device settings such as lens positionsettings in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of an illustrative finger sensor formed ona protruding support structure in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a front view of an illustrative heat-mounted device with aperipheral finger sensor in accordance with an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Electronic devices such as wearable electronic devices may includedisplays, speakers, haptic output devices, and other output devices forpresenting output to users. These electronic devices may also includesensors for gathering environmental measurements and user input. Thesensors may include one or more sensors for gathering user input from auser's fingers or other external objects. These sensors, which maysometimes be referred to herein as finger sensors, may includecapacitive touch sensors, optical touch sensors, resistive touchsensors, and/or other sensors for detecting when a finger or otherexternal object has supplied touch input, may include force sensors suchas strain gauge sensors and other sensors for detecting applied force,and/or may include other sensors for gathering input such as proximitysensors that detect when a finger or other object is close to the sensorand/or is moving through the air adjacent to a device, but has nottouched the device. Single-finger input and multi-finger input may begathered using a finger sensor.

A top view of an illustrative head-mounted device is shown in FIG. 1. Asshown in FIG. 1, head-mounted devices such as electronic device 10 mayhave head-mounted support structures such as housing 12. Housing 12 mayinclude portion (e.g., support structures 12T) to allow device 10 to beworn on a user's head. A main housing portion (e.g., support structure12M) and associated internal housing portion (e.g., internal supportstructures 12I) may support the display, lenses, and other opticalcomponents (e.g., structures 12I may serve as lens support structures).

Front face F of housing 12 may face outwardly away from a user's head.Rear face R of housing 12 may face the user. During operation, a user'seyes are placed in eye boxes 18. When the user's eyes are located in eyeboxes 18, the user may view content being displayed by display 14through associated lenses 22. Display 14 faces inwardly toward eye boxes18 and may therefore sometimes be referred to as a rear-facing display,an inner display, an inwardly facing display, a display that is notpublically viewable, or a private display. Front face F of device 10faces away from eye boxes 18 and faces away from lenses 22.

In some configurations, optical components such as display 14 and lenses22 are configured to display computer-generated content that is overlaidover real-world images (e.g., a user may view the real world through theoptical components). In other configurations, which are sometimesdescribed herein as an example, real-world light is blocked (e.g., by anopaque housing wall at front face F of housing 12 and/or other portionsof device 10).

In addition to inwardly facing optical components such as inner display14 and associated lenses 22 that allow a user with eyes in eye boxes 18to view images, device 10 may have one or more displays and/or otherlight-emitting components (e.g., status indicator lights, illuminatedbutton icons, etc.) that are located on exterior surfaces of device 10.Device 10 may, for example, have one or more external displays(sometimes referred to as outwardly facing displays or publicallyviewable displays) such as display 24 on front face F. Display 24 maypresent images that are viewable to people in the vicinity of the userwhile the user is wearing and while the user is using device 10 to viewimages on display 14. Display 24 may also be used to display images onthe exterior of device 10 that are viewable by the user when device 10is not being worn (e.g., when device 10 is resting in the user's hand oron a table top and is not on a user's head). Display 24 may be a touchsensitive display and/or may be a force sensitive display (e.g., display24 or part of display 24 may overlap a finger sensor) or, if desired,display 24 may be insensitive to touch and force input. There may be oneor more outwardly facing displays such as display 24 in device 10.Haptic output components may be overlapped by one or more of theseoutwardly facing displays or may be mounted elsewhere in housing 12(e.g., to provide haptic output when a user supplies finger input suchas touch input and/or force input to a portion of a display).

The support structures of device 10 may include adjustable components.For example, support structures 12T and 12M of housing 12 may includeadjustable straps or other structures that may be adjusted toaccommodate different head sizes. Support structures 12I may includemotor-driven adjustable lens mounts, manually adjustable lens mounts,and other adjustable optical component support structures. Structures12I may be adjusted by a user to adjust the locations of eye boxes 18 toaccommodate different user interpupillary distances. For example, in afirst configuration, structures 12I may place lenses and other opticalcomponents associated respectively with the user's left and right eyesin close proximity to each other so that eye boxes 18 are separated fromeach other by a first distance and, in a second configuration,structures 12I may be adjusted to place the lenses and other opticalcomponents associated with eye boxes 18 in a position in which eye boxesare separated from each other by a second distance that is larger thanthis distance.

In addition to optical components such as displays 14 and 24, device 10may contain other electrical components 16. The electrical components ofdevice 10 such as the displays and other electrical components 16 mayinclude integrated circuits, discrete components, printed circuits, andother electrical circuitry. For example, these components may includecontrol circuitry and input-output devices.

The control circuitry of device 10 may include storage and processingcircuitry for controlling the operation of device 10. The controlcircuitry may include storage such as hard disk drive storage,nonvolatile memory (e.g., electrically-programmable-read-only memoryconfigured to form a solid-state drive), volatile memory (e.g., staticor dynamic random-access-memory), etc. Processing circuitry in thecontrol circuitry may be based on one or more microprocessors,microcontrollers, digital signal processors, baseband processors, powermanagement units, audio chips, graphics processing units, applicationspecific integrated circuits, and other integrated circuits. Softwarecode may be stored on storage in the control circuitry and run onprocessing circuitry in the control circuitry to implement controloperations for device 10 (e.g., data gathering operations, operationsinvolving the adjustment of the components of device 10 using controlsignals, etc.). Control circuitry in device 10 may include wired andwireless communications circuitry. For example, the control circuitrymay include radio-frequency transceiver circuitry such as cellulartelephone transceiver circuitry, wireless local area network (WiFi®)transceiver circuitry, millimeter wave transceiver circuitry, and/orother wireless communications circuitry.

Device 10 may be used in a system of multiple electronic devices. Duringoperation, the communications circuitry of device 10 may be used tosupport communication between device 10 and other electronic devices inthe system. For example, one electronic device may transmit video and/oraudio data to device 10 or another electronic device in the system.Electronic devices in the system may use wired and/or wirelesscommunications circuitry to communicate through one or morecommunications networks (e.g., the internet, local area networks, etc.).The communications circuitry may be used to allow data to be received bydevice 10 from external equipment (e.g., a tethered computer, a portabledevice such as a handheld device or laptop computer, online computingequipment such as a remote server or other remote computing equipment,or other electrical equipment) and/or to provide data to externalequipment.

The input-output devices of device 10 (e.g., input-output devices incomponents 16) may be used to allow a user to provide device 10 withuser input. Input-output devices may also be used to gather informationon the environment in which device 10 is operating. Output components inthe input-output devices may allow device 10 to provide a user withoutput and may be used to communicate with external electricalequipment.

The input-output devices of device 10 may include one or more displayssuch as inner display 14 and external display 24. External display 24may be formed from a liquid crystal display, organic light-emittingdiode display, a display with an array of crystalline semiconductorlight-emitting diode dies, or a display based on other types of pixels.In some configurations, a display in device 10 may include left andright display devices (e.g., display 14 may be formed from left andright components such as left and right scanning mirror display devices,liquid-crystal-on-silicon display devices, digital mirror devices, orother reflective display devices, left and right display panels based onlight-emitting diode pixel arrays such as organic light-emitting displaypanels or display devices based on pixel arrays formed from crystallinesemiconductor light-emitting diode dies, liquid crystal display devicespanels, and/or or other left and right display devices in alignment withthe user's left and right eyes, respectively). In other configurations,display 14 may include a single display panel that extends across botheyes or uses other arrangements in which content is provided with asingle pixel array.

The display(s) of device 10 may be used to display visual content for auser of device 10. The content that is presented on display 14 may, forexample, include virtual objects and other content that is provided tothe display by control circuitry 12 and may sometimes be referred to ascomputer-generated content. An image on the display such as an imagewith computer-generated content may be displayed in the absence ofreal-world content or may be combined with real-world content. In someconfigurations, a real-world image may be captured by a camera (e.g., aforward-facing camera) so that computer-generated content may beelectronically overlaid on portions of the real-world image (e.g., whendevice 10 is a pair of virtual reality goggles with an opaque display).

The input-output circuitry of device 10 may include sensors. The sensorsmay include, for example, three-dimensional sensors (e.g.,three-dimensional image sensors such as structured light sensors thatemit beams of light and that use two-dimensional digital image sensorsto gather image data for three-dimensional images from light spots thatare produced when a target is illuminated by the beams of light,binocular three-dimensional image sensors that gather three-dimensionalimages using two or more cameras in a binocular imaging arrangement,three-dimensional lidar (light detection and ranging) sensorsthree-dimensional radio-frequency sensors, or other sensors that gatherthree-dimensional image data), cameras (e.g., infrared and/or visibledigital image sensors), gaze tracking sensors (e.g., a gaze trackingsystem based on an image sensor and, if desired, a light source such asan infrared light source that emits one or more beams of light that aretracked using the image sensor after reflecting from a user's eyes),touch sensors, buttons, capacitive proximity sensors, light-based(optical) proximity sensors, other proximity sensors, force sensors suchas strain gauges, capacitive force sensors, resistive force sensorsand/or other force sensors configured to measure force input from auser's fingers or other external objects on a display, track pad, orother input surface, sensors such as contact sensors based on switches,gas sensors, pressure sensors, moisture sensors, magnetic sensors, audiosensors (microphones), ambient light sensors, light sensors that makeuser measurements, microphones for gathering voice commands and otheraudio input, sensors that are configured to gather information onmotion, position, and/or orientation (e.g., accelerometers, gyroscopes,compasses, and/or inertial measurement units that include all of thesesensors or a subset of one or two of these sensors), fingerprint sensors(e.g., two-dimensional capacitive fingerprint sensors, two-dimensionaloptical fingerprint sensors, etc.), and/or other sensors.

User input and other information may be gathered using sensors and otherinput devices in the input-output devices of device 10. If desired,device 10 may include haptic output devices (e.g., vibrating componentsoverlapped by a display, portions of a housing wall, and/or other devicestructures), light-emitting diodes and other light sources, speakerssuch as ear speakers for producing audio output, and other electricalcomponents used for input and output. If desired, device 10 may includecircuits for receiving wireless power, circuits for transmitting powerwirelessly to other devices, batteries and other energy storage devices(e.g., capacitors), joysticks, buttons, and/or other components.

Some or all of housing 12 may serve as support structures (see, e.g.,the portion of housing 12 formed by support structures 12T and theportion of housing 12 formed from support structures 12M and 12I). Inconfigurations in which electronic device 10 is a head-mounted device(e.g., a pair of glasses, goggles, a helmet, a hat, etc.), structures12T and 12M and/or other portions of housing 12 may serve ashead-mounted support structures (e.g., structures forming a helmethousing, head straps, temples in a pair of eyeglasses, goggle housingstructures, and/or other head-mounted structures). The head-mountedsupport structures may be configured to be worn on a head of a userduring operation of device 10 and may support display(s), lenses,sensors, other input-output devices, control circuitry, and/or othercomponents.

FIG. 2 is a side view of device 10 in an illustrative configuration inwhich device 10 is a head-mounted device with support structures thatallow device 10 to be worn on head 26 of a user. The support structuresof device 10 may include, for example, structures 12T (e.g., a strapsuch as a horizontally extending head band) and/or structures 12T′(e.g., a strap such as a top-of-head headband that extends from front toback along the middle of the user's head). The housing of device 10 andoptional structures such as display 24 may include structures on frontface F of device 10. The support structures forming the body of device10 may include planar surfaces and/or curved surfaces such as curvedsurfaces that create smooth transitions between front-facing surfaces ofdevice 10 and sideways facing surfaces of device 10 (e.g., devices alongthe user's ears and/or other portions of the side of head 26).

Finger sensors with or without haptic output devices (e.g., sensors suchas touch sensors, force sensors, proximity sensors for detecting fingerpresence and/or finger air gestures), may be located at any suitablelocation on device 10 such as a locations 34 extending along some or allof a horizontally extending head strap (structure 12T), at locations 40extending along some or all of the surface of a top-of-head strap suchas structure 12T, at locations 32 along an upwardly facing surface onthe upper portion of the main housing of device 10 (e.g., along an upperperipheral edge of the main housing of device 10), at locations 36 onthe opposing lower (downwardly facing) surface along the periphery ofthe main housing of device 10, at locations 38 on portions of the frontof device 10 that face partially forward and partially sideways fromhead 26, at locations 28 in the center of front face F, and/or atlocations 30 at peripheral edge portions on front face F (and, ifdesired, at associated peripheral edge portions of support 12T thatextend continuously rearward from front face F). These are illustrativelocations for forming finger sensors and/or other sensors in components16. The use of locations such as these in adjusting the operation ofdevice 10 are sometimes described as examples. Other locations in device10 (e.g., any exposed surfaces of device 10 and the support structuresforming device 10) may be provided with sensors such as finger sensors,if desired.

FIG. 3 is a front view of device 10 in an illustrative configuration inwhich front facing display 24 has been formed over most of front face Fof housing 12. Sensors such as finger sensors may be formed along one ormore portions of the peripheral edge of housing 12 on front face F. Asshown in FIG. 3, for example, sensor 40 (e.g., a finger sensor) may beformed in an elongated shape such as strip (e.g., a bar) runninghorizontally across the upper peripheral edge of housing 12. In theexample of FIG. 3, sensor 40 extends partly across the majority of thewidth of device 10. In other configurations, sensor 40 may extend acrossmore or less of the width of device 10 and/or may be located along theleft and/or right peripheral edges of housing 12 and display 24 and/orthe lower peripheral edge of housing 12.

Sensor 40 may, if desired, be separate from display 24. If, as anexample, display 24 is not touch sensitive, sensor 40 may be used togather finger input while optionally using display 24 to provide visualoutput that changes in response to the gathered finger input. Inarrangements in which display 24 is touch sensitive, a user may usesensor 40 and display 24 to provide finger input. For example, a usermay select on-screen options on display 24 by touching the on-screenoptions as they are displayed on display 24 and a user may adjust anoperating parameter of device 10 by moving a finger along the length ofsensor 40 (as an example).

FIG. 4 is a top view of device 10 showing how sensors such as fingersensors (e.g., sensor 42 of FIG. 4) may be formed along the upper rim ofhousing 12. The upper rim of housing 12 may be characterized by a upperhousing surface that is not parallel to front face F. In this location,sensor 42 extends along the upper peripheral border of front facingdisplay 24 on front face F. The surface of sensor 42 may face upwardwhen device 10 is being worn on the user's head (e.g., sensor 42 may becharacterized by a surface normal that is perpendicular or nearlyperpendicular to the surface normal of front-facing display 24). Ifdesired, sensor 42 and/or other finger sensors in device 10 may have anassociated display (e.g., an organic light-emitting display or otherdisplay that covers the same area on device 10 as the sensor). Thedisplay may include touch sensor components (e.g., a one-dimensional ortwo-dimensional capacitive touch sensor, an optical touch sensor, etc.),one or more force sensor components (e.g., a force sensor that detectsforce input in a downward direction that is into the page in the exampleof FIG. 4), or other sensor components.

The control circuitry of device 10 can provide interactive visualelements such as selectable on-screen options on an external displaysuch as the display overlapping sensor 42. For example, selectable icons44 may be adjusted in real time by the control circuitry and the controlcircuitry can take corresponding action in response to user finger inputselecting a given one of icons 44. As an example, a display associatedwith sensor 42 may display icons 44 and one or more of the displayedicons 44 may correspond to a selectable option. Finger input may besupplied to sensor 42 during operation. When finger input on an iconcorresponding to a selectable option is received, the control circuitryof device 10 may adjust the operating of device 10 to place device 10into a given operating mode associated with the selectable option. Ifdesired, sensor 42 and/or the other fingerprint sensors of device 10 maybe a fingerprint sensor or may include a fingerprint sensor. In thistype of configuration, each of a user's different fingerprints (ordifferent fingerprints from different corresponding users) may be usedto trigger execution by device 10 of a different corresponding task. Forexample, in response to receiving finger input from a first finger,device 10 may enter a first mode of operation, whereas in response toreceiving finger input from a second finger that is different than thefirst finger, device 10 may enter a second mode of operation that isdifferent than the first mode of operation. Fingerprints may be used forauthentication, for launching specific applications, operating systemfunctions, or other software, and/or for otherwise providing device 10with user input.

Haptic feedback (e.g., a pulsed vibration) may optionally be providedwhen an option is selected to help confirm to the user that input hasbeen received by sensor 42. If desired, selectable on-screen options mayinclude reconfigurable (or fixed) sliding input buttons (see, e.g.,illustrative slider button 46). A user may use this button (e.g., atouch screen slider button with a movable indicator that represents thecurrent state of the slider button) to provide input for changing ananalog value (e.g., playback volume, display brightness, etc.). Forexample, a user may place finger 48 on slider button 46 and may movefinger 48 in direction 50 to increase audio volume or to increasedisplay brightness and in direction 52 to decrease audio volume or todecrease display brightness (as examples). Configurations in whichsensor 42 of FIG. 4 gathers input from the user without using acorresponding display and/or without using an associated haptic outputdevices may also be used.

In some arrangements, display 24 may be covered with a protective coverlayer such as display cover layer 12CG of main housing portion 12M.Layer 12CG may have a curved shape (e.g., a shape that wraps around thefront of the user's face) and may be formed from clear polymer, glass,or other transparent materials. The pixels of display 24 may beoverlapped by layer 12CG, so that a user may view images on front face Fthrough layer 12CG. Display 24 in this type of arrangement may be aflexible display that is curved to conform the curved inner surface oflayer 12CG. Housing structure 12R may have portions that form anupwardly facing surface for supporting sensor 42 and may be configuredto wrap around a user's facial features (e.g., structure 12R may have arecess to accommodate a user's nose). Housing structure 12R may havesoft portions (e.g., foam, fabric, etc.) for forming a cushioningstructure adjacent to a user's face. In general, housing 12 may beformed from any suitable materials (e.g., glass, ceramic, metal,polymer, fiber-composites such as fiberglass and carbon fiber material,fabric, wood and other natural materials, and/or other materials).

In the example of FIG. 5, display 24 has a first front-facing portionsuch as main front-facing display 24M and a second portion (formed fromthe same display substrate and/or a separate display substrate) formingan elongated strip-shaped display 24D. Display 24 (e.g., display 24Mand/or display 24D) may be provided with finger sensors and, if desired,optional haptic output. For example, elongated strip-shaped display 241)may overlap an identically sized or similarly sized elongatedstrip-shaped finger sensor. Display 24M may overlap a two-dimensionaltouch sensor or other two-dimensional finger sensor. In someconfigurations, display 24 may overlap a two-dimensional finger sensor.A haptic output device may supply feedback in response to gatheredfinger input. Arrangements in which a portion of display 24 does notoverlap any finger sensor components may also be used.

As shown in FIG. 5, in arrangements in which display 24 senses fingerinput a user may provide touch input or other finger input to drag anddrop visual elements on display 24 (e.g., icons corresponding toapplications or other software on device 10). For example, a user maydrag and drop an icon from display 24M such as icon 58 to a location ondisplay 24D such as location 58′ and the user may drag and drop an iconfrom display 24D such as icon 60 to a location on display 24M such aslocation 60′. Strip-shaped display 24D may function as a dynamicfunction row that contains customized function buttons (e.g.,user-selected and/or default icons corresponding to applications,operating system functions, or other device functions).

In the example of FIG. 6, display 24D contains multiple user-selectableoptions 62. Display 24D of FIG. 6 may overlap a finger sensor (e.g., asensor for gathering touch input, force input, and/or other fingerinput) and may optionally overlap a haptic output device. A user maysupply finger input to select a given one of options 62. Options 62 maycorrespond to navigation functions that move and select a highlight suchas highlight 66 between various on-screen options 64. Using this type ofinput arrangement, a user may move highlight 66 onto an on-screen optionof interest and can then select one of options 62 to select thehighlighted option (e.g., one of options 62 can serve as an “select”key). Display 24D may display reconfigurable button labels (e.g., icons)and/or fixed button labels in device 10 may be placed over differentfinger sensors and/or portions of finger sensors. In the example of FIG.6, display 24D (and its associated finger sensor) have elongated stripshapes and run along the upper peripheral edge of display 24M andhousing 12 for device 10. This allows a user to provide finger inputwithout obscuring visual content on display 24M (e.g., without visuallyblocking on-screen options 64 from view). The use of a finger sensorthat runs along the edge of display 24 (e.g., a finger sensor overlappedby display 24D of FIG. 6) may help a user provide device 10 with fingerinput (e.g., in a configuration in which display 24M is atouch-insensitive display that does not overlap any finger sensordevices). Arrangements in which display 24 overlaps one or more fingersensors (and, if desired, haptic output devices) may also be used, ifdesired. Display 24D (and its associated finger sensor) may faceoutwardly (e.g., display 24D may have a surface normal parallel to thesurface normal of display 24M and/or display 24D may face upwardly whiledisplay 24M faces horizontally outwardly). Configurations in whichdisplay 24D and its associated finger sensor runs vertically along aright or left peripheral edge of housing 12 may also be used.

FIG. 7 is a front view of device 10 in an illustrative configuration inwhich a finger sensor is being used to adjust the distance betweenlenses 22 (e.g., to accommodate a user's interpupillary distance). Afinger sensor such as finger sensor 40 may run along an upper peripheraledge of display 24 and the housing of device 10. In this location, auser may place fingers 48 on left and right portions of finger sensor40. To increase the spacing between lenses 22, the user may move fingers48 away from each other (e.g., by sliding fingers 48 away from eachother along the surface of finger sensor 40 in directions 70 as shown inFIG. 7). The current horizontal location of each finger 48 maycorrespond to an associated current location for a respective one oflenses 22. The distance between lenses 22 (e.g., the center-to-centerspacing of lenses 22) may be decreased by moving fingers 48 towards eachother. Lenses 22 may be positioned using electromagnetic actuators(e.g., motors, etc.) or other lens positioners in response to fingerinput. Because the user's fingers are located near to lenses 22 andbecause the user's fingers move in the directions in which the userdesires to move lenses 22, this type of approach for making lens spacingadjustments may be intuitive for a user.

In general, any suitable computer-controlled actuators may be controlledby supplying input to device 10 (e.g., using one or more fingersensors). For example, actuators may be used to tighten and/or loosenheadbands, to adjust a cushion resting between housing 12 and the frontof the user's face (e.g., to adjust the spacing between the user's eyesand display 14), and/or to adjust other mechanical attributes of device10. Moreover, a user may use finger input on peripheral finger sensorsand/or other finger sensors to adjust other device operating parameters.For example, a user may move a finger back and forth across ahorizontally extending elongated finger sensor on the top edge of frontface F in order to adjust stereo balance (left-versus-right audioplayback volume associated with left and right speakers mounted onsupport structures 12T on the left and right of the user's head,respectively or left and right speakers in an associated headset or setof wireless ear buds), and/or may otherwise use a slider input deviceimplemented using an elongated finger sensor in housing 12 to adjustaudio playback settings and/or other device operating settings. In someconfigurations, device 10 may be used as a remote control device (e.g.,so that finger input may be used to adjust stereo balance in an externalaudio system in addition to or instead of adjusting stereo balance indevice 10).

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of an exterior portion of housing 12.Finger sensor 80 has been formed on a protruding portion of housing 12(e.g., on ring-shaped sidewall surface 82 on protruding supportstructure 84). Protruding support structure 84 may have a circularoutline, an outline with curved and/or straight edges, and/or othersuitable shape. Finger sensor 80 may gather finger input from one ormore fingers 48 or other external objects. A user may, for example,slide a single finger 48 along the curved peripheral edge of protrudingsupport structure 84 to adjust audio volume, screen brightness, or otheradjustable operating parameters. If desired, a user may place two (ormore) fingers 48 on the periphery of protruding portion 84 whilesupplying the finger sensor with input. In this way a user may, forexample, supply finger sensor 80 with finger input that emulates thetwisting of a rotatable knob (even when protrusion support structure 84is fixed and is not rotating while the user twists their fingers).

If desired, a finger sensor may run around the border of front face F ofhousing 12. In the illustrative configuration of FIG. 9, a visualelement such as icon 88 is being presented to the user. Icon 88 may bedisplayed on inwardly-facing display 14 (e.g., in a peripheral region ofthe user's field of view) and/or on outwardly-facing display 24. Device10 may have a finger sensor such as finger sensor 86 that runs along theperipheral edge of housing 12 and display 24 (e.g., some or all of thering-shaped border of display 24). Sensor 86 may be, for example, acapacitive touch sensor, optical touch sensor, or other touch sensitivesensing circuitry. When a user desires to move icon 88 along theperiphery of the user's field of view (e.g., as icon 88 is beingdisplayed on display 14), the user may place finger 48 on finger sensor86 and can drag and drop icon 88 along the edge of the user's field ofview to a new desired location such as location 88′. In this way, a usermay directly move notification icons and other visual elements ondisplay 14 to desired peripheral display locations (e.g., to customizewhere these icons are displayed along the edge of the user's field ofview). During operation of device 10, content that the user is viewing(e.g., moving images) may be displayed in the central main portion ofdisplay 14 while user-customized visual elements (e.g., iconscorresponding to regions for incoming messages, information on thecurrent times, calendar entries, and/or other information) can bedisplayed at desired user-selected locations.

The illustrative example of FIG. 9 involves use of a ring-shaped fingersensor (finger sensor 86) that runs along some or all of the peripheryof front face F of device 10 to move visual elements (icons, etc.) thatdevice 10 is displaying for the user on display 14 (or display 24). Ifdesired, a finger sensor may be located on other portions of housing 12,as described in connection with FIG. 2. As an example, a user may usefinger sensor 30 to move a visual element that is being displayed on theperipheral left side of the user's field of view to the peripheral rightside of the user's field of view, etc. In general, any of the fingersensor locations described in connection with device 10 (e.g., any ofthe finger sensor locations of FIG. 2, etc.) can be used as adjustableslider buttons, to display customizable interactive buttons (selectableicons), can be used to drag and drop or otherwise manipulate contentappearing on external displays such as display 24, can be used to movevisual elements from one portion of display 14 to another, etc.

As described above, one aspect of the present technology is thegathering and use of information such as sensor information. The presentdisclosure contemplates that in some instances, data may be gatheredthat includes personal information data that uniquely identifies or canbe used to contact or locate a specific person. Such personalinformation data can include demographic data, location-based data,telephone numbers, email addresses, twitter ID's, home addresses, dataor records relating to a user's health or level of fitness (e.g., vitalsigns measurements, medication information, exercise information), dateof birth, username, password, biometric information, or any otheridentifying or personal information.

The present disclosure recognizes that the use of such personalinformation, in the present technology, can be used to the benefit ofusers. For example, the personal information data can be used to delivertargeted content that is of greater interest to the user. Accordingly,use of such personal information data enables users to control thedelivered content. Further, other uses for personal information datathat benefit the user are also contemplated by the present disclosure.For instance, health and fitness data may be used to provide insightsinto a user's general wellness, or may be used as positive feedback toindividuals using technology to pursue wellness goals.

The present disclosure contemplates that the entities responsible forthe collection, analysis, disclosure, transfer, storage, or other use ofsuch personal information data will comply with well-established privacypolicies and/or privacy practices. In particular, such entities shouldimplement and consistently use privacy policies and practices that aregenerally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or governmentalrequirements for maintaining personal information data private andsecure. Such policies should be easily accessible by users, and shouldbe updated as the collection and/or use of data changes. Personalinformation from users should be collected for legitimate and reasonableuses of the entity and not shared or sold outside of those legitimateuses. Further, such collection/sharing should occur after receiving theinformed consent of the users. Additionally, such entities shouldconsider taking any needed steps for safeguarding and securing access tosuch personal information data and ensuring that others with access tothe personal information data adhere to their privacy policies andprocedures. Further, such entities can subject themselves to evaluationby third parties to certify their adherence to widely accepted privacypolicies and practices. In addition, policies and practices should beadapted for the particular types of personal information data beingcollected and/or accessed and adapted to applicable laws and standards,including jurisdiction-specific considerations. For instance, in theUnited States, collection of or access to certain health data may begoverned by federal and/or state laws, such as the Health InsurancePortability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), whereas health data in othercountries may be subject to other regulations and policies and should behandled accordingly. Hence different privacy practices should bemaintained for different personal data types in each country.

Despite the foregoing, the present disclosure also contemplatesembodiments in which users selectively block the use of, or access to,personal information data. That is, the present disclosure contemplatesthat hardware and/or software elements can be provided to prevent orblock access to such personal information data. For example, the presenttechnology can be configured to allow users to select to “opt in” or“opt out” of participation in the collection of personal informationdata during registration for services or anytime thereafter. In anotherexample, users can select not to provide certain types of user data. Inyet another example, users can select to limit the length of timeuser-specific data is maintained. In addition to providing “opt in” and“opt out” options, the present disclosure contemplates providingnotifications relating to the access or use of personal information. Forinstance, a user may be notified upon downloading an application (“app”)that their personal information data will be accessed and then remindedagain just before personal information data is accessed by the app.

Moreover, it is the intent of the present disclosure that personalinformation data should be managed and handled in a way to minimizerisks of unintentional or unauthorized access or use. Risk can beminimized by limiting the collection of data and deleting data once itis no longer needed. In addition, and when applicable, including incertain health related applications, data de-identification can be usedto protect a user's privacy. De-identification may be facilitated, whenappropriate, by removing specific identifiers (e.g., date of birth,etc.), controlling the amount or specificity of data stored (e.g.,collecting location data at a city level rather than at an addresslevel), controlling how data is stored (e.g., aggregating data acrossusers), and/or other methods.

Therefore, although the present disclosure broadly covers use ofinformation that may include personal information data to implement oneor more various disclosed embodiments, the present disclosure alsocontemplates that the various embodiments can also be implementedwithout the need for accessing personal information data. That is, thevarious embodiments of the present technology are not renderedinoperable due to the lack of all or a portion of such personalinformation data.

Physical environment: A physical environment refers to a physical worldthat people can sense and/or interact with without aid of electronicsystems. Physical environments, such as a physical park, includephysical articles, such as physical trees, physical buildings, andphysical people. People can directly sense and/or interact with thephysical environment, such as through sight, touch, hearing, taste, andsmell.

Computer-generated reality: in contrast, a computer-generated reality(CGR) environment refers to a wholly or partially simulated environmentthat people sense and/or interact with via an electronic system. In CGR,a subset of a person's physical motions, or representations thereof, aretracked, and, in response, one or more characteristics of one or morevirtual objects simulated in the CGR environment are adjusted in amanner that comports with at least one law of physics. For example, aCGR system may detect a person's head turning and, in response, adjustgraphical content and an acoustic field presented to the person in amanner similar to how such views and sounds would change in a physicalenvironment. In some situations (e.g., for accessibility reasons),adjustments to characteristic(s) of virtual object(s) in a CGR,environment may be made in response to representations of physicalmotions (e.g., vocal commands), a person may sense and/or interact witha CGR object using any one of their senses, including sight, sound,touch, taste, and smell. For example, a person may sense and/or interactwith audio objects that create 3D or spatial audio environment thatprovides the perception of point audio sources in 3D space. In anotherexample, audio objects may enable audio transparency, which selectivelyincorporates ambient sounds from the physical environment with orwithout computer-generated audio. In some CGR environments, a person maysense and/or interact only with audio objects. Examples of CGR includevirtual reality and mixed reality.

Virtual reality: A virtual reality (VR) environment refers to asimulated environment that is designed to be based entirely oncomputer-generated sensory inputs for one or more senses. A VRenvironment comprises a plurality of virtual objects with which a personmay sense and/or interact. For example, computer-generated imagery oftrees, buildings, and avatars representing people are examples ofvirtual objects. A person may sense and/or interact with virtual objectsin the VR environment through a simulation of the person's presencewithin the computer-generated environment, and/or through a simulationof a subset of the person's physical movements within thecomputer-generated environment.

Mixed reality: In contrast to a VR environment, which is designed to bebased entirely on computer-generated sensory inputs, a mixed reality(MR) environment refers to a simulated environment that is designed toincorporate sensory inputs from the physical environment, or arepresentation thereof, in addition to including computer-generatedsensory inputs (e.g., virtual objects). On a virtuality continuum, amixed reality environment is anywhere between, but not including, awholly physical environment at one end and virtual reality environmentat the other end. In some MR environments, computer-generated sensoryinputs may respond to changes in sensory inputs from the physicalenvironment. Also, some electronic systems for presenting an MRenvironment may track location and/or orientation with respect to thephysical environment to enable virtual objects to interact with realobjects (that is, physical articles from the physical environment orrepresentations thereof). For example, a system may account formovements so that a virtual tree appears stationery with respect to thephysical ground. Examples of mixed realities include augmented realityand augmented virtuality. Augmented reality: an augmented reality (AR)environment refers to a simulated environment in which one or morevirtual objects are superimposed over a physical environment, or arepresentation thereof. For example, an electronic system for presentingan AR environment may have a transparent or translucent display throughwhich a person may directly view the physical environment. The systemmay be configured to present virtual objects on the transparent ortranslucent display, so that a person, using the system, perceives thevirtual objects superimposed over the physical environment.Alternatively, a system may have an opaque display and one or moreimaging sensors that capture images or video of the physicalenvironment, which are representations of the physical environment. Thesystem composites the images or video with virtual objects, and presentsthe composition on the opaque display. A person, using the system,indirectly views the physical environment by way of the images or videoof the physical environment, and perceives the virtual objectssuperimposed over the physical environment. As used herein, a video ofthe physical environment shown on an opaque display is called“pass-through video,” meaning a system uses one or more image sensor(s)to capture images of the physical environment, and uses those images inpresenting the AR environment on the opaque display. Furtheralternatively, a system may have a projection system that projectsvirtual objects into the physical environment, for example, as ahologram or on a physical surface, so that a person, using the system,perceives the virtual objects superimposed over the physicalenvironment. An augmented reality environment also refers to a simulatedenvironment in which a representation of a physical environment istransformed by computer-generated sensory information. For example, inproviding pass-through video, a system may transform one or more sensorimages to impose a select perspective (e.g., viewpoint) different thanthe perspective captured by the imaging sensors. As another example, arepresentation of a physical environment may be transformed bygraphically modifying (e.g., enlarging) portions thereof, such that themodified portion may be representative but not photorealistic versionsof the originally captured images. As a further example, arepresentation of a physical environment may be transformed bygraphically eliminating or obfuscating portions thereof. Augmentedvirtuality: an augmented virtuality (AV) environment refers to asimulated environment in which a virtual or computer generatedenvironment incorporates one or more sensory inputs from the physicalenvironment. The sensory inputs may be representations of one or morecharacteristics of the physical environment. For example, an AV park mayhave virtual trees and virtual buildings, but people with facesphotorealistically reproduced from images taken of physical people. Asanother example, a virtual object may adopt a shape or color of aphysical article imaged by one or more imaging sensors. As a furtherexample, a virtual object may adopt shadows consistent with the positionof the sun in the physical environment.

Hardware: there are many different types of electronic systems thatenable a person to sense and/or interact with various CGR environments.Examples include head mounted systems, projection-based systems,heads-up displays (HUDs), vehicle windshields having integrated displaycapability, windows having integrated display capability, displaysformed as lenses designed to be placed on a person's eyes (e.g., similarto contact lenses), headphones/earphones, speaker arrays, input systems(e.g., wearable or handheld controllers with or without haptic feedback,smartphones, tablets, and desktop/laptop computers. A head mountedsystem may have one or more speaker(s) and an integrated opaque display.Alternatively, a head mounted system may be configured to accept anexternal opaque display (e.g., a smartphone). The head mounted systemmay incorporate one or more imaging sensors to capture images or videoof the physical environment, and/or one or more microphones to captureaudio of the physical environment. Rather than an opaque display, a headmounted system may have a transparent or translucent display. Thetransparent or translucent display may have a medium through which lightrepresentative of images is directed to a person's eyes. The display mayutilize digital light projection, OLEDs, LEDs, microLEDs, liquid crystalon silicon, laser scanning light source, or any combination of thesetechnologies. The medium may be an optical waveguide, a hologram medium,an optical combiner, an optical reflector, or any combination thereof.In one embodiment, the transparent or translucent display may beconfigured to become opaque selectively. Projection-based systems mayemploy retinal projection technology that projects graphical images ontoa person's retina. Projection systems also may be configured to projectvirtual objects into the physical environment, for example, as ahologram or on a physical surface.

The foregoing is merely illustrative and various modifications can bemade to the described embodiments. The foregoing embodiments may beimplemented individually or in any combination.

What is claimed is:
 1. A head-mounted device, comprising: an innerdisplay; a lens through which the inner display is visible from an eyebox; a head-mounted support structure configured to support the innerdisplay and lens, wherein the head-mounted support structure has a frontface that faces away from the lens and an opposing rear face that facesthe eye box; and a finger sensor that runs along a peripheral edge ofthe front face of the head-mounted support structure; and controlcircuitry configured to adjust a visual element being displayed by theinner display based on finger input gathered by the finger sensor. 2.The head-mounted device defined in claim 1 wherein the finger sensorcomprises an elongated strip-shaped touch sensor, the head-mounteddevice defined in claim 1 further comprising: a first external displayon the front face; and a second external display that is separate fromthe first external display, wherein the second external display issupported by the head-mounted support structure and overlaps theelongated strip-shaped touch sensor.
 3. The head-mounted device definedin claim 1 wherein the finger sensor comprises a force sensor.
 4. Thehead-mounted device defined in claim 1 wherein the finger sensor has anelongated shape and extends at least partly across an upper edge of thefront face of the head-mounted support structure.
 5. The head-mounteddevice define in claim 1 further comprising a publically viewabledisplay on the front face.
 6. The head-mounted device defined in claim 1further comprising: a publically viewable touch insensitive display onthe front face having a top edge, wherein the finger sensor runs alongthe top edge.
 7. The head-mounted device defined in claim 1 wherein thehead-mounted support structure has a main portion that is configured tosupport the inner display, wherein the head-mounted support structurehas a head strap portion, and wherein at least some of the finger sensoris on the head strap portion.
 8. The head-mounted device defined inclaim 1 wherein the head-mounted support structure has a top-of-headheadband and wherein the finger sensor is formed on the top-of-headheadband.
 9. The head-mounted device defined in claim 1 furthercomprising an elongated strip-shaped display running along a peripheraledge of the front face, wherein the finger sensor overlaps the elongatestrip-shaped display.
 10. The head-mounted device defined in claim 1wherein the finger sensor comprises an elongated strip-shaped touchsensor.
 11. The head-mounted device defined in claim 1 wherein thefinger sensor comprises a touch sensor.
 12. The head-mounted devicedefined in claim 1 further comprising a first publically viewabledisplay on the front face overlapping the finger sensor and a secondpublically viewable display on the front face that is separate from thefirst publically viewable display, wherein the control circuitry isconfigured to move an icon from the second publically viewable displayto the first publically viewable display.
 13. The head-mounted devicedefined in claim 1 further comprising a first publically viewabledisplay on the front face overlapping the finger sensor and a secondpublically viewable display on the front face that is insensitive totouch.
 14. The head-mounted device defined in claim 1 further comprisingan actuator coupled to the lens, wherein the control circuitry isconfigured to move the lens with the actuator to adjust alens-center-to-lens-center spacing in response to finger input receivedwith the finger sensor.
 15. The head-mounted device defined in claim 1further comprising a haptic output device, wherein the control circuitryis configured to use the haptic output device to provide haptic outputin response to finger input from the finger sensor.
 16. A head-mounteddevice, comprising: an inner display; a lens through which the innerdisplay is visible from an eye box; a head-mounted support structureconfigured to support the inner display and the lens, wherein thehead-mounted support structure has a front face that faces away from thelens and an opposing rear face that faces the eye box; an externaldisplay on the front face that is configured to be publically viewedwhile the inner display is being viewed through the lens, wherein theexternal display has a peripheral edge; and a finger sensor that runsalong a peripheral edge of the external display and that is notoverlapped by the external display.
 17. The head-mounted device definedin claim 16 wherein the finger sensor comprises an elongatedstrip-shaped sensor that is on an upper peripheral edge of the externaldisplay.
 18. The head-mounted device defined in claim 17 wherein theexternal display is touch insensitive, the head-mounted device furthercomprising a strip-shaped display overlapping the elongated strip-shapedsensor.
 19. A head-mounted device, comprising: an inner display; a lensthrough which the inner display is visible from an eye box; ahead-mounted support structure configured to support the inner display,the lens, wherein the head-mounted support structure has a front facethat faces away from the lens, an opposing rear face that faces thelens, and an upper surface that is not parallel to the front face; anexternal display on the front face that is configured to be publicallyviewed while the inner display is being viewed through the lens, whereinthe external display has a peripheral edge; and a sensor on the uppersurface that is configured to gather finger input.
 20. The head-mounteddevice defined in claim 19 wherein the sensor comprises a fingerprintsensor.
 21. The head-mounted device defined in claim 19 wherein thesensor comprises an elongated capacitive touch sensor that overlaps anadditional external display that is separate from the external display.